Tuesday, January 08, 2008

I have always been a strong believer in the concept of helping someone out in their time of need. It is one of basic tenets of human nature to rally behind and support someone who has fallen prey to unfortunate circumstances. We've all had those times in our lives when the unexpected event suddenly happens and that's when you truly have the opportunity to see this on full display.

Right now, that need is with friend and fellow low-carb blogger Christin Sherburne and her family. On New Year's Day, Christin and her husband Brian along with their two children ages 2 and 4, were driving back to their home in Round Rock, Texas from a family gathering when they were involved in a horrific three-car pileup. As you can see from that photo at the top of this post, this was no simple fender-bender. It was life threatening.

But God's angels were certainly watching over Christin and her family because they all survived and none of them sustained any broken bones. The children were fine (Praise God!) and Brian who was driving received his share of bumps and bruises. But it was Christin who received the worst of the injuries with a concussion, swelling and bruising to her brain, a cut on her right eye, and severe bruising across her entire body. It really is a miracle she survived this, but Christin's faith is strong and she believes the Lord spared her life.

In fact, she's so committed to exposing the lies and deceit of Kimkins diet founder Heidi Diaz that she published this new blog post on Monday even while she's still lying down in a hospital room bed! Here she is thinking of others not wanting them to fall victim to a diet fraud like she did all the while she is in the midst of fighting for her own health. It's this selflessness about Christin that makes her so special and I'm very proud and honored to know her as my friend.

Although she is expected to fully recover from her injuries over time, the medical bills are beginning to add up. Even before this accident happened, Christin and her family were struggling somewhat financially. She had taken on a side job waitressing to help supplement the family income and it was taking a toll on her. Since the accident, now she can't work at all and these hospital bills are expected to run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Yikes!

Here's where WE come in. I realize that most of us aren't even close to being rich by any stretch of the imagination, so I would never ask you to give hundreds or even thousands of dollars towards a cause like this. But regardless of the financial situation you are in, we can all contribute SOMETHING to help this dear woman and her family as they go through what could have been a fatal event.

Whether you know Christin personally or if this is your first time hearing about who she is, I ask you to participate in this fundraising drive to help her. She needs to focus on getting better right now and and not worry about how they're gonna pay the bills. Your contributions would certainly go a long way in bringing her and her family the much-needed peace of mind as they go through this. I could not imagine if my wife and I were involved in a similar car accident. It would be devastating!

So, what can we do? How can we help this family? Here are some simple instructions about how you can make YOUR contribution to the Sherburne family:

1. Go to PayPal.com2. Click on the "Send Money" link3. Enter bsherburne@dellmail.com next to the "To"4. Enter your e-mail address next to the "From"5. Enter your donation next to the "Amount"6. Mark "Service/Other" next to the "For"7. Click on the "Continue" link8. Fill out the payment information9. Pay with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express10. Click on "Agree & Continue" for final confirmation

Let's all do this RIGHT NOW and flood this family with a much-needed financial blessing today. I just sent my donation to them and I encourage you to give generously from the abundance of blessings you have been given. If you can give $100 or more, then that would certainly help them out tremendously. But even a $50, $20, $10, $5, or $1 gift would add up if we all participate.

There are thousands of readers like you who visit the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog on a daily basis, so it wouldn't take very long to get them a substantial cumulative donation if EVERYONE participated to get Christin and her family the money they need to take care of these medical bills. And I encourage you to share about this genuine need with your church, your co-workers, at your blog, on your favorite forum--EVERYWHERE you can think of to get the word out! They need us and we would want the same thing done if it was our family going through something like this.

THANK YOU for the generous outpouring of support that I know you are going to give Brian, Christin, and the kids to help them through this troubled time. Strengthen my belief in the strong spirit of charity that I feel exists within the heart of every man and woman who is reading this right now. Let's rally around this good cause and provide a glimmer of hope for some remarkable people.

After you donate, come back here and share in the comments section below that you did and provide any comments you'd like to share with Christin and her family. I know this will be an encouragement to them and uplift their spirits during this time. God bless you guys for what you are gonna do. Let's step up to the plate! :)

5 Comments:

Jimmy...thanks so much for this! I just made my donation. Money is pretty tight for us right now but I figured that if I could come up with money to join Heidi's weightloss scam site, I could at least come up with that amount to help Christin. If we all help, those bills will get paid!

Jimmy - thank you for posting this. I was so sorry to hear this, but I'm glad she and her family are on the mend. That picture is so horrific - it's amazing that the injuries weren't more serious. (and yes, I did donate. I can't imagine having to start out the new year having to deal with this.)